Privacy Policy

OpenBorough does not require an account, and you can browse the entire site, or use the OpenBorough iPhone app, anonymously. The one exception is if you choose to subscribe to email updates, in which case we store the email address you give us so we can send them. We never ask for your name, phone number, home address, or any payment information.

What we don't collect

Whether or not you subscribe to email updates, we never collect:

• Your name, phone number, or mailing address
• Payment or financial information
• Your precise location. On the web, your selected Council district is stored only in your browser. The iPhone app uses your location once, if you ask it to, to look up your districts, and we don't store it (see below).
• Social media profiles or contact lists

What stays on your device

The following are stored in your browser's local storage. They never leave your device unless explicitly noted in the next section. Clearing your browser data removes them entirely.

• A random anonymous device identifier (a UUID we generate on your first visit)
• Your selected NYC Council district
• Your selected language
• Your selected civic topic preferences, used to personalize the homepage
• Dismissal flags for first-visit banners (so they don't reappear)

What we store on our servers

If you use the "Watch this bill" feature on the Track Legislation page, your anonymous device identifier is sent to our server along with the bills you've chosen to watch. This allows you to see your watched bills when you return. Apart from an email subscription (described below), we store nothing else about your use of the site.

You can stop watching any bill at any time, which deletes the record. Clearing your browser's local storage will also disconnect your watch list from your device, since we have no other way to identify you.

The OpenBorough iPhone app

The app works without an account, and without an address if you choose "Explore without an address." It contains no advertising or analytics tools, and nothing in it tracks you across other apps or websites.

• Anonymous device identifier: on first launch the app creates a random identifier, keeps it in your iPhone's Keychain, and sends it with its requests so our server can tell installs apart. It isn't connected to your name, email, or Apple ID.
• Your location: used only when you choose "Use my current location" or pick a spot or address on the map. The coordinates are sent to our server once to find your districts and are not stored. Address searches are handled on your iPhone by Apple Maps, under Apple's privacy policy.
• Stored on your iPhone: your districts, the neighborhood name for the place you picked, a label for it (which can be the address you searched), the bills you follow, and your settings. Deleting the app removes them.
• Stored on our servers: your device identifier with your district numbers, the bills you follow (and each bill's last status, so we know when it changes), your app version, and your language. If you allow notifications, also the push token Apple gives your iPhone and your notification setting.
• "Would you vote yes?": when you answer the daily question, we store your yes or no with your device identifier and your council district number, so the app can show how your answers compare with your council member's votes. Other people only ever see answers as totals for a district or the whole city, never one person's answer.
• Notifications: the app asks only when you first follow a bill. If you allow them, we send a notification when a bill you follow changes status, delivered by Apple's push notification service. Turn them off in the app (More → Notifications) or in iOS Settings. Turning them off, or Apple reporting the token as no longer valid, removes the push token from our servers.

Unfollowing a bill deletes that record. More → Delete my data in the app deletes your device's record, follows, answers, and push token from our servers and clears what the app saved on your iPhone.

When you subscribe to email updates

OpenBorough offers an optional weekly email briefing about your Council district. It is entirely opt-in: you receive it only if you enter your email address in the subscribe form. When you do, we store that email address, the district(s) you chose, your language, and the dates we last emailed you — enough to send the briefing and remember your preferences.

Every email includes a one-click unsubscribe link, and you can change or remove your details anytime from the preferences link in any message. Unsubscribing marks your record inactive so we stop emailing you. We never sell, rent, or trade your email address; we share it only with the provider that delivers the messages (see Service providers below).

Separately, if you request a land-use dossier from our land-use pages, we store the email address and firm name you provide so we can follow up about that request. The same choices apply.

Cookies

OpenBorough sets a single functional cookie, donation_banner_dismissed, which simply remembers that you closed the support banner so it does not reappear. It holds no identifier and is never used for tracking or advertising. Everything else is kept in local storage (described above), a separate browser mechanism that does not transmit data on every request the way cookies do. We set no tracking or advertising cookies.

Analytics

We use Vercel Analytics and Vercel Speed Insights to understand which pages are visited and how the site performs. These tools are cookieless and do not track individuals across sites. They collect aggregate information such as page views, referring URL, country, and page load timings. We do not log or store IP addresses ourselves.

Push notifications

On the website, push notifications are not enabled: we don't register push subscriptions or send push messages. In the iPhone app they are opt-in, and described under "The OpenBorough iPhone app" above.

Service providers

We rely on the following providers to operate the site and app. The only personal data we ever share is your email address, and only with our email provider, and only if you subscribe to updates.

• Vercel — hosts the website and provides cookieless analytics and performance metrics
• Supabase — provides the Postgres database that stores legislation data, anonymous bill watches, and the anonymous app device records described above
• Anthropic — generates plain-language summaries, translations, and research drawn from public legislation, public records, and public officials' statements. Only public data is sent to Anthropic; your email address and other personal data are never sent.
• Resend — delivers our email updates. If you subscribe, your email address is shared with Resend solely so it can send the messages you asked for; it is not used for any other purpose.
• Apple — delivers the iPhone app's notifications through the Apple Push Notification service, and provides address search and maps on your iPhone. Apple handles that data under its own privacy policy.
• Buy Me a Coffee — processes voluntary donations on its own website. If you choose to donate, you interact with Buy Me a Coffee directly under its own privacy policy. We never see your payment information.

Where our public data comes from

Legislation, votes, sponsor records, campaign finance figures, ethics filings, and election candidate data are pulled from public government sources including the NYC Council Legistar system, the NY State Open Legislation API, NYC Open Data, and the NY State Board of Elections. This is information about public officials and public proceedings, not about you.

Your choices

• Unsubscribe anytime: if you subscribed to email updates, every message has a one-click unsubscribe link, and the preferences link lets you change or delete your details.
• Clear everything: clearing your browser's site data for openborough.nyc removes your device identifier, district, topics, and any watched-bill association.
• Browse privately: using an Incognito or Private window means nothing is stored after you close it.
• In the iPhone app: unfollow bills, turn notifications off, or change your location from More. More → Delete my data removes everything the app stored, on your iPhone and on our servers.
• Opt out of analytics: most ad and tracker blockers (uBlock Origin, Privacy Badger, etc.) block Vercel Analytics by default.

Children

OpenBorough is suitable for all ages, but it is intended for general audiences and is not directed at children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13, including email addresses.

Changes to this policy

If this policy changes, the updated date at the top of the page will reflect when. Substantive changes — for example, enabling push notifications or adding a new service provider — will be called out clearly.

Contact

Questions or concerns about privacy, or a request to delete your data? Email hello@openborough.nyc. More help is on our Support page.